INTRODUCTION TO THE 2008 EDITION

This Preface contains six sections. The author analyses the works of the most distinguished thinkers of Islam and human rights: Mahmoud Mohamed Taha, Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na‘im, Ann Elizabeth Mayer, Mohammad Mojtahed Shabestari and Abdulaziz Sachedina respectively in the first five sections. Each section has two parts: the first is a brief description of the thinker’s opinion on human rights, and the second is a brief critical analysis, reviewing the advantages and disadvantages of that opinion. Taha represents the Arabic literature on Islam and human rights in this review, Shabestari the Persian, and the other three the English-language literature. Mayer is the author of the most popular book on Islam and human rights from a non-Muslim and Western perspective. The other four could be considered to be the most outstanding Muslim reformist thinkers regarding Islam and human rights. The last section is the longest and contains four parts. The first outlines the author’s opinion on Islam and human rights, and the second compares his approach to the other five approaches. The third presents a comparative chronology of the six approaches, and the fourth and last part discusses the present book and the advantages of its English translation.